IMMODEST PROPOSAL PART 2 - COVER LETTER

Part II: Philosophy Cover Letter

Thomas Kelley Brown, 18, of Canadian, Tx, went missing late on the night of November 23, 2016. The case of whether or not he ran away, committed suicide, or was murdered, is still open today, 3 years later. By now, it is determined that he indeed did not run away, but according to local law, Texas Rangers, and the Texas OAG, he committed suicide. Because of this, they have closed the case themselves until further evidence is found. For the last 3 years, Penny Meek (Thomas’ mother) has hired private investigators from Klein Investigations, Philip Klein. Klein still believes this case to be a clear homicide. He’s not the only one though, the public believes the case to be a homicide as well. After all, the evidence gathered thus far makes it, in my opinion, quite clear.

So where do I stand? What do I believe? I’ve followed this case since the beginning. I’ve thoroughly read every report released by the investigators and articles written by news channels (who are on the side of the investigators and the public). I’ve sat and stared at photos of evidence for hours. Because of all my hard research, I absolutely believe this to be a homicide case. I’ve tried to look on the side of law enforcement, looking for the signs of suicide, and it just does not add up. There is only 1 sign that points in this direction. Investigator Philip Klein told ABC7 Amarillo why law enforcement believes it to be a suicide. “Thomas had looked up, in secure mode, around the time he went missing, about the suicide hotline. We called Apple and got ahold of some technicians that created these machines and they said they’re not so sure we can get that information and that they believe the Texas OAG may have seen something regarding that.” But what is fishy with this, is it could have been googled by someone else. Thomas was last seen getting gas at a local station minutes before midnight. After that, he was gone, never to be seen alive again.

His car was found by a friend on a helicopter early Thanksgiving morning and was called into the sheriffs’ department. Sheriff Nathan Lewis went to the car, and instead of doing his job by sealing the area and getting forensics in to do an investigation, he held the car in his personal possession for hours, then gave it directly to Penny. Why did Lewis keep the car? Was he cleaning up any evidence that could point to him or his deputy? Why do I make this assumption? Well, camera footage throughout town the night Thomas disappeared shows the sheriff and his deputy near where Thomas was getting gas just before midnight, then again at around 6 am coming from the north side of town (where Thomas’ car, belongings, and body was, which were all later found miles and miles apart from each other). The two cops pulled into a parking lot, talked for a while, then went back to the station. The Sheriff could have been cleaning up their mess from the night before. Could they have something to do with Thomas’ disappearance?

A year later, Klein Investigators decided to luminol the car. This test resulted in large amounts of blood found that were invisible to the naked eye, along the driver’s side of the car interior. A .25 caliber shell casing was found as well. Not only was a luminol test done, but a cadaver dog was brought in and sure enough, it sat down by the driver’s side and lifted its paw, indicating a dead body had definitely been in the car. Thomas’ body was found 2 and a half years later, 14 miles away from his car, and his stuff has been found scattered on the back roads at different times between finding his car and finding his body. If Thomas shot himself and died in his car, how did he walk 14 miles and sit under a tree by the lake, whilst spreading around his belongings that all appeared to be damage-free? Perhaps law enforcement decided to take a utilitarian way and ruled it as a suicide, for now, to keep the peace from being worried about there being a murderer in their community. What they said has not worked though because more evidence is being released by the investigators and the public also does not believe that the signs point to suicide. Klein told News Channel 10 that he was approached by some people in the community regarding concerns about there being a murderer among the town of Canadian, TX, he stated that everyone can sleep at night, but if you are a parent, be cautious. He also stated that everyone should be “asleep with one eye open” until the case is solved.

With all the splattering and pools of blood found with the luminol, the cadaver dog confirming a dead body had been in the car, Thomas’ belongings found in various places at different times (including undamaged clothes and cellphone in perfect condition, found around a year after his disappearance), and his body found many many miles from his car 2 and a half years later and not even consumed by the earth and wildlife like one would expect to happen, what leads to suicide other than his private search history on a phone that was in mint condition, untouched by the world?

I don’t at all believe this to be a suicide. The signs just don’t point to it at all. My personal philosophy is that, even if you have good intentions to ease the worry of the public by calling it a suicide, Thomas’ family deserves to know what happened. Thomas doesn’t deserve to go unsolved. Until they can get a confession or hard evidence that proves what really happened, this case needs to be further investigated. Letting him fall into a statistic he doesn’t even belong to is purely unjust.

WORD COUNT: 1000

Complete execution of the standard

Strong execution with some room to improve

Meets the standard

Approaching the standard

Below the standard

Standard is not present in the paper

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